One Team with lots of issues

A couple of months back the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) hosted a polished launch for their Wallabies slogan for the 2011 World Cup campaign.

The national side will to go to New Zealand under the slogan of "One Team: 2011". It's not quite "Keeping the bastards honest" (probably apt) or "It's time" (definitely apt) but it's what the team at ARU headquarters have opted for and they were making the hard yards to sell the moniker.

The event featured speeches from the Wallabies coach and (now deposed) captain, the ARU chief executive, a former Wallaby world-cup winner and even a television address from the Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Which is where alarm bells should have been ringing for Rocky Elsom, as the Wallabies have gone all Sussex Street and replaced their on-field leader just weeks out from a big campaign.

I'm not sure who the faceless men of Australian Rugby are and it's probably unfair to compare Robbie Deans to Paul Howes. In any case Queensland Reds skipper James Horwill is now Australia's captain and draws the dubious honour of having his leadership compared to Ms Gillard's.

The move has been roundly applauded, as Horwill is not only a good leader, but also a first-choice selection. The big question remaining is how Elsom will deal with being relegated from one of the highest posts in Australian sport to the lowly position of elite athlete.

The hulking flanker handled the news with class at the official World Cup launch. Elsom has never enjoyed media engagements, yet he fronted the cameras, stoically answered questions and resisted the urge to snap a couple of microphones in half.

The concern now is whether the power shift will destabilise the side. While Kevin Rudd has been accused of undermining the Federal Government, I find it hard to conceive Elsom will be leaking team secrets to Laurie Oakes, or even Ken Sutcliffe.

One Team - the launch proclaimed. Since then we've had two captains, but the ARU are doing their best to ensure there'll be just one coach for a long, long time. It was last week announced Robbie Deans had agreed to stick around until 2013.

The critics of this move suggest Australian Rugby would be better suited in seeing how the Wallabies do at the World Cup, before deciding who will be the coach after it. Head office argues signing Deans now will keep him out of the clutches of the Kiwis, suggesting a pretty high level of confidence in his abilities. When was the last time your boss gave you a new contract before you did your best work?

Since the 'One Team' launch the ARU has also been doing plenty to try and get the public to 'buy in' to the Wallabies cause. The Reds Super Rugby win was a huge boost for the code. But with the ACT Brumbies and New South Wales Waratahs both involved in seasons most kindly described as difficult, how do you encourage fans to keep the faith for the international season? You offer cheap tickets.

In a year when the ARU is expected to lose millions of dollars as a result of a short international season (due to the World Cup) the organisation lowered ticket prices. Fifty bucks got you a family ticket to the Samoa defeat. While $20 was enough to get you a seat against the Springboks.

ARU chief executive John O'Neill rejected suggestions that dropping prices is indicative of a weakening code. Journalists have never had the strongest reputation for maths, but the supply/demand paradigm seems pretty clear. If the ARU is trying to build public support by dishing out cheap seats, it doesn't seem the worst idea.

Yet there is one "brand" that has certainly taken a hit.

The boy who spoke of "protecting his brand" during his prolonged domestic contract negotiations has tarnished his reputation after missing the Wallabies official World Cup team photo and the naming of Australia's tournament squad.

James O'Connor was sighted drinking at the Golden Sheaf in Sydney's eastern suburbs the night before missing his official engagement.

In terms of protecting your brand, I'm not sure what is more concerning; missing the World Cup launch, or the fact he was drinking at the Sheaf. The Double Bay establishment has a reputation for being pretty, glamorous, showy and full of posers. In other words, not at all like professional athletes.

The reason offered up by the talented back for his absence is that he slept through his alarm. In ranking excuses this sits somewhere below 'food poisoning' and somewhere above 'the dog at my homework'. Perhaps he forgot to take his vitamins. At the time of writing O'Connor has been suspended for at least one game and handed a $10,000 fine. It's understood O'Connor's image will be digitally added into the official photo. I was personally hoping for a headshot in a box off to the right, in the style as the kids who miss photo day at primary school.

In the broader sense a story about a 21-year-old having a night on the tiles is somewhere in the vicinity of a news item titled "Sun Rises: Everything OK". Yet O'Connor invites scrutiny when his management write things on his official website like "James O'Connor is already one of the most dynamic and exciting players to pull on a Wallabies jersey". A sponsorship deal with alarm clock manufacturers must be in the pipeline.

It's interesting to consider what the ARU's reaction would have been if Matt Giteau had been the one in trouble, given the persistent (and as yet unproven) rumblings about his disruptive nature. The One Team's one big casualty has been 92-test veteran Matt Giteau. The 28-year-old was not named in the 30-man World Cup squad and unless there's a swathe of injuries it seems he won't make it to New Zealand. It is yet to be confirmed whether Matt Giteau has requested that he also be digitally added to the team photo, but his Twitter account will be worth following during the tournament.

Sadly O'Connor's no-show was not the only recent controversy. There's been plenty of speculation about O'Connor being involved in a fight with teammates Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale during the recent spring tour of Europe. There were reports the incident left Beale with a black eye ahead of the Wallabies victory over the French.

ARU insiders have long referred to the trio as the 'brat pack', but their performance at an early week press conference was much more 'Three Stooges'. Accustomed to evading tacklers, the backs tried their hand at dodging questions. The result was a bizarre and uncomfortable spectacle where they agreed there had been a disagreement, but not an incident, but they couldn't say why it happened or where it happened or if there was anything remotely physical involved.

A bemused and understandably incredulous reporter asked whether Beale had been "accidentally punched" which drew a round of laughter from the Wallabies. The fullback responding "the boys tell me I've got black eyes all the time". It was like watching two groups of people speaking two different languages and attempting to arrive at an outcome. One group asked questions, the others said a collection of words that made no sense.

Deans was on hand and was the only party that was mildly coherent, though his answers were best described as cryptic and included a thinly veiled suggestion that someone had an axe to grind over being omitted from the World Cup squad.

This campaign is getting more complicated and messy with each passing week and one thing is sure; Australian Rugby desperately needs a successful World Cup. The ARU looks increasingly like a bloke who has bet the house and is hoping to high hell he has the right hand. There may be just One Team, but there's plenty going on.

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